OFFICE HOURS / EXTRA HELP

My Office Hours this Summer will be conducted remotely on Zoom. I don't have set times for Office Hours: please send me an email letting me know that you'd like to meet and we can make a plan. My schedule will vary but I can often be available between 11am and 4pm. Ideally, let's try to make a plan a day or two in advance.

Since our course is housed in D2L, we have access to a Discussion board. I'll open a folder for each week and I'll do my best to answer all questions that are posted – I won't be available 24/7 so please try to be patient, but also try to take advantage of each other: one of the best ways to learn is to hear the questions other students have and to either answer their questions or listen the way that other students answer the questions. So I hope that you will utilize the Discussions board.

Another great source of support are the PCC Tutoring Centers. You can get more info about the tutoring options here: https://www.pcc.edu/tutoring.

COURSE DESCRIPTION/PREREQUISITES/CCOG FOR MTH 112

"Provides preparation for calculus and related disciplines. Explores trigonometric functions and their applications as well as the language and measurement of angles, triangles, circles, and vectors. Explores topics symbolically, numerically, and graphically in real-life applications and interprets them in context. Emphasizes skill building, problem solving, modeling, reasoning, communication, connections with other disciplines, and the appropriate use of present-day technology. Introduces the polar coordinate system."

The prerequisites for MTH 112 are MTH 111 and WR/RD 115 (or IRW 115). (CCOG for MTH 112)

LAB COMPONENT

MTH 112 is a 4 credit course: 3 of the credits are traditional "lecture credits” and 1 of the credits is a “laboratory credit.” This is the first year that PCC has this credit structure for MTH 112, and it's a confusing credit structure for an online class since the definitions of "lecture" and "laboratory" credits are based on in-class time but we'll never meet in class.

To help this make sense, let's start with the definition of 1 credit in the quarter system: "3 hours/week of engagement with course materials for 10 weeks." (Since ours is an 8-week Summer class, it should require closer to 3.75 hours/week of engagement). What distinguishes "lecture" and "lab" credit is primarily WHERE the 3 hours of engagement take place: for 1 lecture credit, 1 of the 3 hours engagement takes-place in-class (traditionally, the activity would be a "lecture") and students are expected to spend the other 2 hours outside of class studying the info from the lecture; for 1 lab credit, all 3 hours of weekly engagement take place in-class. (Usually, lab credit is used by the sciences, like "chemistry lab", where experiments or other hands-on activities are completed. In a math class, the lab credit is intended for hands-on practice of the math that is being studied.)

Since this in an online class that won't ever meet in class, it's awkward to interpret 1 lab credit. In my on-campus MTH 112 classes, during class I'll have students work on the same Practice Worksheets that you have access to (see below for more info about Practice Worksheets): this hands-on practice will be "lab time." I've decided to mimic this as much as possible in our online class but just without meeting in-class. So the Practice Worksheets will represent the "lab activity" that the 1 lab credit requires, along with the Graded Worksheets (see below for more info) which will serve as something like a "lab report" since the Graded Worksheets will include similar problems from the Practice Worksheet and they'll be an assessment of how we'll you learned the math that you practiced.

TEXTBOOK

Instead of an expensive publisher resource, we'll use an Open Educational Resource (OER) that's free if we use the online version: OpenStax Algebra and Trigonometry, 2nd ed.. (It's possible to obtain this resource in bound printed format but I don't think it's worth the expense.)

SUPPLEMENTAL PACKET FOR MTH 112

The Supplemental Packet for MTH 112 includes a few sections with explanations and practice problems for some important topics. When relevant, this packet is linked from the Calendar. As you'll see, the packet is available in three formats: HTML (ideal for viewing on the internet), PDF (ideal for printing), and EPUB (ideal for downloading and reading on a tablet).

CONTENT

The Content link in the navigation bar will take you to a "table of contents" for our course. You can link to almost everything from Content. Most importantly, you'll use Content to access the Quizzes and the the solutions to both the Practice and Graded Worksheets (since that's the only place where those items are linked!); everything else is also available either in the Calendar or in the Assignments tool.

CALENDAR

The course calendar is available in the Calendar link in the navigation bar. You can access most of our course via links from the Calendar.

Our course is organized on a weekly basis. Each week starts on Monday and ends the following Sunday. For each week, there are links to (a) a few chapters of online lecture notes, (b) a few class notes videos, (c) a few sections in our online textbook, and (d) a Practice Worksheet covering the topics for the week.

Each week you'll be expected to submit your completed Practice Worksheet, your completed Quiz, and your completed Graded Worksheet. In addition to the weekly assignments, there will also be one Midterm Exam (during Week 4) and one Final Exam (during Week 8) .

See below for more info about each of these tools/activities.

PACKETS AND PRINTING

You'll need to access/use some documents in this class. All of these documents accessible for free as PDFs so, if you have access to a tablet and are comfortable "writing electronically" with a stylus, then you shouldn't need to print anything on paper. But if you don't have a tablet, it will be best if you have access to printed versions of the documents. You can print everything yourself if you have a printer but (a) you may not have a printer and (b) even if you have a printer, it costs money/puts wear-and-tear on your printer to print everything for a class like this. Amazingly, the Multnomah County Libraries offer free printing: you can print 200 pages (double-sided on 100 sheets of paper) every day for free at any Multnomah County Library. It's amazing! Get started here: https://multcolib.org/printing.

If you're able to take advantage of this service, there are links below to packets with Class Notes and the Practice Worksheets.

CLASS NOTES VIDEOS & ONLINE LECTURE NOTES & TEXBOOK

For each topic in the Calendar, there are links to Class Notes Videos: these are meant to serve as the primary "lecture" covering new material. The expectation is that you'll start each week by diligently watching the relevant Class Notes Videos and creating your own set of notes in the process. (To create each video, I first composed a "template" Class Note document and then recorded myself filling-in/completing the document; the "template" Class Notes documents are linked in the Calendar; I encourage you to print get access to printed copies these documents and complete them in the same way that I complete them in the video in order to create your own set of class notes.)

Here are the Class Notes bundled for printing (74 page packet). (The Multnomah County Libraries offer free printing: you can print 200 pages (double-sided on 100 sheets of paper) each day for free at any Multnomah County Library. Get started here: https://multcolib.org/printing.)

For each topic in the Calendar, there are also links to Online Lecture Notes: these notes are essentially my version of a textbook for this class. The Online Lecture Notes typicality include more examples than the videos as well as thorough, typed-up explanations, so you should consult them when you're looking for more coverage of the topics than you got from the videos. I recommend reading these Online Lecture Notes online instead of printing them -- there are occational links to videos that aren't accessible from a printed version -- but here's a link to the Online Lecture Notes bundled for printing (171 page packet).

I consider the free online textbook a secondary resource for our class. It offers chapters full of explanations and examples but I don't recommend that you rely on the textbook's explanations and examples: I recommend that you focus on what I provide in the Class Notes Videos and Online Lecture Notes. I think the best way to use our textbook is to complete the recommended practice problems listed in the Calendar in order to get extra practice.

PRACTICE WORKSHEETS

Each week, you'll have access to a Practice Worksheet that covers the math that we're studying that week. The Practice Worksheets are linked from the Calendar.

Here are the Practice Worksheets bundled for printing (88 page packet). (The Multnomah County Libraries offer free printing: you can print 200 pages (double-sided on 100 sheets of paper) each day for free at any Multnomah County Library. Get started here: https://multcolib.org/printing.)

In order to motivate & reward you for completing the Practice Worksheets, you will earn 5 points towards your final grade for completing each week's Practice Worksheet. You can submit Practice Worksheets in the Content folder for each week or in the Assignments tool. (This webpage gives some options for creating PDFs of your Practice Worksheets.)

Your Practice Worksheets will be graded on "completion" rather than on "correctness," so I really won't be "grading" your Practice Worksheets but just confirming that you've made an honest effort to complete all the problems.

Once you submit your Practice Worksheet, you'll get access to the solutions in the Content folder for that week.

If you need a time extension for a Practice Worksheet, send me an email explaining the circumstances and suggesting alternative due-date in the near future: I don't mind giving you a time extension a couple of times during the term.

QUIZZES

There will be six short Quizzes during the quarter (available in the Quizzes link in the navigation bar). The quizzes will be made available on Sunday (the first day of each week) and must be completed by 11:59pm on the following Saturday (the last day of each week). Quizzes will consist of eight multiple-choice questions that you will answer in D2L. Each question is only worth 1/2 of a point so each quiz is only worth 4 points, and you'll be given two attempts at each quiz. You will be allowed 60 minutes for each quiz attempt which should be plenty of time. Before attempting each quiz, study the lecture notes assigned for that week and the class notes videos.

If you need a time extension for a quiz, send me an email explaining the circumstances. I don't want to make it a regular practice but I'm open to giving you an extension once or twice during the term.

GRADED WORKSHEETS

There will be six Graded Worksheets during the quarter (available in the Assignments link in the navigation bar), each worth 15 points toward your final grade. The Graded Worksheets will be made available on Sunday (the first day of each week) and must be completed by 11:59pm on the following Saturday (the last day of each week). These worksheets will consist of "free-response" problems (as opposed to the multiple-choice style questions used in the quizzes) and you'll be expected to communicate your answers using meaningful mathematics and proper notation. You will need to submit your Graded Worksheets electronically as a PDF scan of your neatly hand-written work. This webpage gives some options for creating PDFs.

An important purpose of these assignments is to make sure that you are communicating mathematics correctly so it is crucial that you use proper mathematical notation while completing them. (We could just have more multiple choice quiz questions if the we were only concerned about obtaining correct answers.) A good guide for proper mathematical notation is the online lecture notes and the class notes videos: mimic the organization of the provided examples and you should do well!

If you need a time extension for a Graded Worksheet, send me an email explaining the circumstances. I don't want to make it a regular practice but I'm open to giving you an extension once or twice during the term.

EXAMS

The Math Department requires that there are two proctored exams in this class, and PCC requires that -- because this is an online class -- I only offer "virtual" proctoring options. (My understanding is that the college doesn't consider it appropriate to ask students in online classes to come to campus for proctored exams.) So we'll have one two-hour Midterm Exam and one two-hour cumulative Final Exam that I'll proctor on Zoom; see the Calendar for the dates/times. If you'd prefer to take the exams in-person or if you can't participate in the scheduled testing times, you can take the exams at any college testing center -- PCC has Testing Centers at every campus; you'll just need to make an appointment at a testing center within a few days of the scheduled exams and let me know about your plan. (The PCC Testing Centers offer both on-campus and remote/virtual proctoring.)

Virtually proctored exams involve the following technology requirements: 1) Access to a modern computer system with a supported operating system (OS) installed, 2) a broadband internet provider or mobile carrier with LTE or better service, 3) a microphone, and 4) a detachable webcam and/or mobile device (such as a smartphone or tablet) to film your work area. All virtually proctored exams will take place on Zoom (through your computer with adequate internet access), with audio and visual monitoring of your immediate workspace (through the microphone along with the external webcam and/or mobile device), as well as computer monitoring (through sharing your screen in Zoom). Here's a link to the Student Guide to Virtually Proctored Exams.

In our D2L class, there are links to Google Forms where I ask you to tell me your plan for the exams: please try to fill-out these forms a couple of weeks before the exams.

POINTS